Online Boxes
No book can hold everything; for each edition edits have to be made on the basis of what is taught in the course nationwide and what the average student can reasonably be expected to read during the term. Chapter Openers and various Close-Ups are replaced with more current ones. However, the older examples still have utility, so this section of the web site will provide access to this material, organized according to chapter. In some cases, boxes that the author wanted to include in the paper text, but didn’t have the space for, are also included.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART 1: OVERVIEW
Ch. 1: Introduction: Media in a Changing World
Chapter Opener: The Convergence Generation: The Millennials
Close-Up on History: Technology and Change: The Telegraph
Close-Up on Industry: Breaking into a Media Career
Close-Up on Controversy: Hating America
Ch. 2: Media Impact: Mass Communication Research and Effects
Chapter Opener: Did Media Cause Columbine?
Close-Up on Controversy: Reacting to Media Impact
PART 2: THE PRINT INDUSTRIES
Ch. 3: Books: The Durable Medium
Close-Up on History: Books and Slavery
Close-Up on Industry: Oprah’s Book Club
Close-Up on Controversy: A Victim of the Blockbuster Syndrome?
Ch. 4: Newspapers: Where Journalism Begins
Chapter Opener: Ambiguous Headlines
Close-Up on History: Best American Journalism
Close-Up on Industry: Outrunning the Boulder
Close-Up on Controversy: The Secret Life of Jayson Blair
Ch. 5: Magazines: The First of the Specialized Media
Close-Up on History: Getting to the Point with Reader’s Digest
Close-Up on Controversy: Was it Newsweek’s Fault?
PART 3: THE ELECTRONIC INDUSTRIES
Ch. 6: Movies: Magic from the Dream Factory
Chapter Opener: The Blair Witch Project
Close-Up on History: Best American Films: The Original List
Close-Up on Industry: Debacle on the High Seas
Close-Up on Industry: World Domination and The Matrix
Close-Up on Industry: Turning off the Cruise Control
Close-Up on Controversy: The Passion and the Movie Business
Ch. 7: Recordings and the Music Industry: Copyright Battles, Format Wars
Chapter Opener: The Fight against File Sharing
Close-Up on Industry: Ani DiFranco and Righteous Babe Records
Close-Up on Controversy: Marilyn Manson Meets America
Ch. 8: Radio: The Hits Keep Coming
Chapter Opener: Wind-Up Radio
Close-Up on Industry: Payola Today: Pay for Play, Pay for Say
Ch. 9: Television: Reflecting and Affecting Society
Chapter Opener: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
Close-Up on Industry: Baywatch: International Syndication Success Story
Close-Up on Controversy: Humiliation TV
Ch. 10: The Internet: Convergence in a Networked World
Chapter Opener: Hacker Attacks
Close-Up on Industry: Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web
Close-Up on Controversy: The Reliability of Web Data and the Mystery of Flight 800
Close-Up on Diversity: Cultural Diversity and the Web
Close-Up on Deep Questions of Technology: Is Google God?
Close-Up on Social Effects: Online Matchmaking
Close-Up on Cybercrime: Online Scams
Close-Up on Cybercrime: Phishing
PART 4: INFORMATION AND PERSUASION INDUSTRIES
Ch. 11: Electronic News: Information as Entertainment
Chapter Opener: Inside Katie Couric
Close-Up on History: Matt Drudge, Pioneer Blogger
Close-Up on Industry: Getting Private Lynch
Close-Up on Controversy: The News on the News
Ch. 12: Public Relations: The Image Industry
Chapter Opener: Fine by Them
Close-Up on History: Elian Gonzalez
Close-Up on Industry: Good Spin, Bad Spin
Close-Up on Controversy: Media War-Making: The First Gulf War
Close-Up on Press Releases: Class of 2007 Mindset List
Close-Up on Press Releases: Ground Beef Recall
Ch. 13: Advertising: The Media Support Industry
Chapter Opener: The Subservient Chicken
Close-Up on Industry: Beach Ads Embossed on Sand
Close-Up on Controversy: Heroin Chic Advertising
PART 5: MEDIA LAW AND ETHICS
Ch. 14: Media Law: It Starts with the First Amendment
Chapter Opener: Jenny Jones and the Gay Murder Case
Close-Up on Media Law: The Telecommunications Act of 1996
Close-Up on Industry: The Janet Jackson Flap
Close-Up on Controversy: Protecting Hate Speech: The Nuremberg Files
Ch. 15: Media Ethics: Understanding Media Morality
Chapter Opener: A Big Decision at Taccoa Falls
Close-Up on History: The Life and Death of Terri Schiavo
Close-Up on Industry: The Ethics of Digital Insertion
Close-Up on Controversy: Joe Klein and the Search for Anonymous
PART 1: OVERVIEW
Ch. 1: Introduction: Media in a Changing World
CHAPTER OPENER
The Convergence Generation
Sociologists call them “Millennials,” and define them as those born since the 1980s. They are the babies of the Baby Boomers, the huge generation born after World War II. By 2010, Millennials will outnumber all other generations in the 18- to 49-age category that advertisers love because of their free-spending habits.
Not all members of this or any other generation are the same, but one thing that distinguishes the Millennials is the way that most of them use media. They are the most technologically savvy generation in history. Thanks to the Internet, hand-held computers and cell phones, Millennials literally have billions of facts at their fingertips. They like to watch television, but they barely recognize the concept of "prime time," downloading their favorite shows (without commercials), to TIVOs, laptops, video iPods and cell phones.
They almost never buy newspapers or magazines, getting nearly all of their information from the Internet, or from their network of electronic contacts. They take broadband Internet access for granted.
This is a generation weaned on computer technology. They tinker comfortably with digital media - from creating Web sites and blogs to mixing their own music files - and they have constant access to their friends through instant messaging and online networking. "It consumes my life," said one college senior. "If I'm not texting my friends over the cell phone, I have my laptop with me and I'm IM'ing them, or I'm doing research on Google. Honestly, the only reason any one of my college friends use the library is for group meetings."[1]
The Millennials find entertainment and information (and one another) through a wide variety of new media, including the newest versions of iPods, Treos and Blackberries. Many of these new media are products of convergence, the integration of previously separate forms of media.
Millennials are highly skilled at multitasking and teamwork. Shaped by the end of the Cold War, the explosion in technology, a new global economy, September 11 and terrorism that continues, they tend to be more sober-minded than those who came before them. They are also more willing to work within the system to effect change. Millennials are focused on achievement and have a respect for authority. They are less violent and less inclined to risky behavior than their parents were at the same age. Millennials drink less, use fewer recreational drugs, and smoke fewer cigarettes than earlier generations. They are more likely to go to college.[2]
It’s no wonder that experts expect great things from this generation. As one set of authors predict, "The Millennial Generation will entirely recast the image of youth from downbeat and alienated to upbeat and engaged - with potentially seismic consequences for America."[3]
Not all of the traits of Millennials are positive, however. Their English teachers feel that they’ve lost touch with the nuances of grammar and punctuation. They tend to possess notoriously short attention spans. One researcher coined the term "grasshopper mind" to describe the Millennial’s inclination to leap quickly from one topic to another.[4] Under intense pressure from their parents to succeed and faced with a new, more competitive world economy, they also feel more stress than earlier generations. Millennials are more prone to childhood obesity and depression.[5]
Perhaps more than anything, the Millennials stand as proof that media have affected young people—and that those same young people are poised to change the world. If nothing else, this is a great argument for the idea that everyone needs to understand today’s media.
CLOSE-UP ON HISTORY
Technology and Change: The Telegraph
New media technology has changed society at many points in history. Technological events have ranged from the invention of the printing press in the fifteenth century to the adoption of the World Wide Web in the 1990s. The introduction of the telegraph in 1844 is especially instructive because it contributed to a new style of journalistic writing and established wire services for newspapers.
Samuel Morse, a well-known artist and inventor, worked on his telegraph throughout the 1830s, and by 1844 he had talked the U.S. Congress into financing a line from Baltimore, Maryland, to Washington, D.C. Morse’s first message to Congress, sent in the code of dots and dashes that he had invented, was “What hath God wrought!” Telegraph lines carrying messages in Morse code were soon spreading across the country.
By increasing the speed of long-distance communication from that of a team of horses to that of an electric impulse, the telegraph transformed the way Americans exchanged information and did business. News from faraway places was available very quickly, and could affect everything from a banker’s choice of investments on Wall Street to an Iowa farmer’s decision to plant soybeans or corn. The telegraph even changed the way people wrote, not only in journalism but also in literature. The lean, “telegraphic” writing style that the new medium encouraged eventually became fashionable and replaced the flowery, wordy writing of the nineteenth century. The inverted-pyramid style of news writing—in which the most important facts (the who, what, when, where, why, and how) are squeezed into the first paragraph of the story—began because of the telegraph’s lack of reliability. Reporters using the telegraph had to make sure that the most important information would be transmitted before the line went down.
The telegraph made possible the formation of wire services, which were organizations that sent local newspaper stories from far away. The Associated Press of New York, the first wire service, was formed in 1848 when six New York newspapers, all of which had correspondents in Boston, agreed to share one correspondent in order to save money. The enterprise worked so well that the Associated Press (AP) became a nationwide association in which hundreds of papers shared their local news and correspondents. Before the AP, America still had a partisan press, which meant that most papers had a decidedly political point of view. With the formation of the AP, however, each paper had to make its articles appropriate for other papers, on all sides of the political spectrum. Thus began the journalistic ideal of objectivity, the writing style that separates fact from opinion.
CLOSE UP ON INDUSTRY
Breaking into a Media Career
The DVD that accompanies this book contains a series of “Media Tours” that will take you inside several media companies. For those who are interested in pursuing careers in the media, there are a handful of guidelines and suggestions:
1. Extracurricular Activities First, take advantage of on-campus opportunities related to your field of interest. If you are interested in journalism, volunteer to work on your campus paper. Many campuses today also have radio stations and television studios at which students can work. Some also have advertising and public relations offices that will accept student volunteers or part-time workers. Sometimes a campus work experience will show you what area of a field you are interested in; other times, it might show you that you aren’t really interested in that career, and guide you toward your true calling.
2. Coursework Second, choose courses that develop the skills that are in demand. Most employers, in most types of companies, look for three things in prospective employees: good communication skills, good information technology (computer) skills, and a well rounded general education. Courses in media-related areas are also important, but not for the reasons you might think. Media employers usually do not believe you are going to learn how to perform a specific job in your college classes. The industries change too quickly for that, and employer needs tend to be too specific. Managers know they are going to have to train you to perform the functions they need done. However, coursework in media areas shows that you are interested in their industry, and that you have a general knowledge of what that industry is all about. These courses also enable you to work on special projects that you can list on a résumé and show to a potential employer. If you apply at a movie studio, for example, there is a good chance that an executive there might be interested in the research you did into new movie technologies, or movies on the Web.
3. Internships Third, take advantage of internship opportunities. Many colleges now offer the opportunity for students to work in a local industry and earn academic credit for doing so. Generally, the internship has to be set up both with the local company and with the college department. You should begin planning for your internship several months before you plan to take it. Find out what the policies are at your college, and which local media companies are available. Generally, you can inquire at the employment or human relations department at the company to find out about their policies on internships.
4. Off campus work Consider a part-time or temporary job at a local media company, such as the town newspaper or an Internet start-up. This type of job often does not involve college credit or the supervision of an academic advisor, but it does have the advantage of generating income and helping you gain valuable experience. Also, do not forget the entrepreneurial route. If there are no internships or jobs available, or if you are the type of person who likes to work for yourself rather than an employer, there are many media fields that lend themselves to self-starters. If you find a failing barber shop, for example, you could help save it by organizing an advertising and public relations campaign that includes drawings for free haircuts and circulars delivered to neighborhood homes. Working on a percentage of new business generated, you could earn a fair commission as well as invaluable experience to tell a future employer about.
5. Networking “Network” in this sense means to develop contacts with and open up lines of communication with industry professionals. They are usually busy people, but they often don’t mind offering advice to college students. Sometimes industry professionals can be met when they come to your school as guest speakers. Other contacts might be made by arranging to interview media practitioners, if only over the telephone or by e-mail, for college projects and papers. Also, make a habit of reading the professional publications in your field of interest. Organizations such as the National Association of Broadcasters and the Newspaper Publishers Association of America have student branches that your professor can give you leads to, or you can find over the Internet. Participation at conferences of student media organizations is also good for networking. If you happen to find a media professional you particularly admire and get along with, you might want to ask him or her to mentor you. A mentor is a professional you can seek out for advice on a regular basis.